Drs. Purcell. Saveo.h & Zininv "'Board Certified Family Nledi•ine Specialists Gene Therapy Henry Ford testing new combination against prostate cancer. Anthony J. Sayegh, D.O. Family Medicine Kelly Purcell, D.O. Family Medicine Matthew C. Zimny, D.O. Family Medicine *Specializing in All Aspects of Pediatric, Adult, and Geriatric Medicine including... • • • • Annual Physicals School/Sports Physicals Gynecologic Care Sick Visits *Same Day Appointments Available* la-08-• 14 Mile Rd. i -.:1111111111 2 Ile Rd. P Rd. - 1 2 Mlle attli BEAUMONT MEDICAL STAFF MEMBERS 3 ( 4)31) 14 ‘lile lid. in Nik% berry Square (11illi.r ., Shopping Cen14.9-) (248) 960-3727 .F„..Aotsr convenience. ei riving alld '1% V4`1,11111 are a%ailable 9- Get tested for Gaudier Disease today. it you are Jewish .ind of Eastern 1A11,1v:in Symptoms: Fatigue Bone pain • Easy bruising and/or blceding • Enlarged abdomen • descent, unc Simple test today may niake a very t Werra, c romarrau•. Type Gatichet Disease is the most comment jewtsh genetic disease. It can strike anyone at am, time and the symptoms can he devastating. ,wett fatal. Fortimarely, type I (la:teller 1)isease is treatable. In fart. the earlier the diagnt sis. the better— sometimes even Life.-saving. Ask yOlti. doer, ) , if right fot you. Ti , learn more, A34 call 1.S88.TYPII1GAUCI IPR (1.888.897.3144 June 26 • 2008 (;am her t e st is gerVyMe or visit www.gaudiereare.cont Dr. Benjamin Movsas of Southfield, Dr. Svend Freytag of West Bloomfield and Dr. Hans Stricker of Grosse Pointe are involved with the prostate cancer gene therapy study at Henry Ford Hospital. D etroit-based Henry Ford Hospital is embarking on an expanded major clinical trial, involving the use of gene therapy in combination with radiation therapy, to determine if the combined treat- ment is more effective than radiation therapy alone for patients with inter- mediate risk prostate cancer. The clinical trial is part of a $9 mil- lion grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) awarded to Henry Ford to study the effectiveness of gene therapy to treat prostate cancer. "As part of this research grant we have had encouraging results involv- ing two smaller clinical studies:' says Svend Freytag, Ph.D., division head of research, radiation oncology at Henry Ford Hospital. He, along with Benjamin Movsas, M.D., chair of radiation oncology and Hans Stricker, M.D., vice chair of urology at Henry Ford, are the study's key researchers. Because of the results from the previous trials, NCI approved a phase III trial involving 280 prostate cancer patients over a three-year period. Phase III is the final stage to deter- mine if the treatment should become standard. Currently, radiation therapy (without the gene therapy) or surgical removal of the prostate is the standard treatment for patients with localized prostate cancer, with similar cure rates. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for men according to the American Cancer Society. "When you consider that most tri- als involving gene therapy are in very early stages of development involving research in test tubes, the fact that Henry Ford Hospital is now embark- ing on a major phase III clinical trial to test this as a new standard treat- ment is a testament to the world-class innovative research taking place right here says Dr. Movsas, who is Jewish and the lead researcher. "To my knowl- edge, this is the only place in the world where such a gene therapy study is available for this group of patients." Researchers found that all of the patients with intermediate-risk pros- tate cancer (the group eligible for this study) had excellent responses follow- ing the combined treatment, with no evidence of cancer regrowth to date. The main criteria for the phase III study requires either a patient's pros- tate specific antigen to be in the range of 10-20 and/or a Gleason score of 7 (moderately differentiated tumor cells on the prostate biopsy). In this randomized study, half of the patients will received the standard treatment for intermediate prostate cancer involving intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), a high-pre- cision technique using computer-con- trolled x-ray beams so that the radia- tion delivery conforms to the shape of the tumor. The other half will receive the combination treatment involving the gene therapy with IMRT to see which treatment is most effective. For information, call the Josephine Ford Cancer Center at Henry Ford Hospital, (313) 916-3938 or www.hfhs-radonc-genetherapy.com .